In most cooling systems for beverages, and particularly for alcoholic beverages, conventional vapor-compression systems include fundamental components such as an evaporator, a compressor and condenser. The evaporator, or cold section, allows a pressurized refrigerant to expand, boil and evaporate. During this change of state from liquid to gas, energy (heat) is absorbed. The compressor acts as a refrigerant pump and recompresses the gas to a liquid. The condenser expels the heat absorbed by the evaporator and produced during compression into the ambient environment.
These conventional vapor-compression refrigerant systems are adequate for large cooling needs. However, it is desirable to dispense some beverages such as specialty beverages, or liqueurs, that are more viscous than most beer and wines and have higher alcohol contents, i.e., about thirty-five percent, from artistically designed bottles placed on compact, artistically designed dispensing machines which are readily visible to the public. The bottles are inverted, or inclined, and mounted on the machine. The beverage is withdrawn from the bottles into the refrigerant unit mounted inside the machine. The machines are typically table-top units or placed on bars and readily visible to the public.
The use of conventional refrigeration systems is sometimes costly for use in small units such as table top machines located at bars. These units have a small size capacity, e.g. only a few bottles, but also require a compressor, refrigerator coil, condenser, pump, fan, and other associated refrigeration equipment which must be placed in a small compact housing. This adds to the cost of the overall unit and its daily operating cost.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to have a more efficient, yet cost effective system for cooling beverage without using a conventional vapor-compression refrigeration system.
It is another object of the present invention to have a machine for dispensing chilled beverage which has precise temperature control, high reliability, low weight and cost and minimal space as compared to more conventional vapor-compression refrigeration units.